Method of treating wood fiber for use in plaster.



PATENTBD MAY 3, 1964.

No. 758,987 M. E. LOOSE.

METHOD OF TREATING WOOD FIBER FOR USE IN PLASTER.

APPLICATION FILED 00123, 1902.

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UNITED STATES,

' Patented May 3,1904.

PATENT i OFFICE.

MAXIMUS E, LOOSE, OF NAPOLEON, OHIO.

METHOD ,OF TREATING WOOD FIBER FOR USE IN PLASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 58,987, dated May 3, 1904. Application filed. October 23,4902. Serial No. 128,458. (N0 specimens.)

which the figure is a sectional side elevation,

showing my preferred form of apparatus for desiccating.

My invention relates to the treatment of wood fiber, and is especially designed in preparing it for plaster mixtures to prevent the premature setting of the. mixture in packages.

Heretofore in wood-pulp or wood-fiberplas- 'ters the fiber has been severed from the block and then mixed with the other ingredients. I have found that when wood -pulp or woodfiber plasters are made in this way, especially when green wood is used, the dry plaster mixture will absorb moisture and will deteriorate or set in the bag or packages, and the quality of the plaster is thereby injured.

My invention overcomes this difliculty; and it consists in desiccating or hot-drying the woody particles before the mixture is made.

It also consists in the steps hereinafter described and claimed.

In carrying out my process I desiccate the wood-pulp or wood fiber by subjecting it to the action of heated gases, preferably air, whereby the solid and colloid constituents of the juices or sap are retained in the particles. In the drawing, in which I show one form of apparatus for carrying out this step, 2 repre sents a desiccating-chamber, which maybe of any desirable form and which contains a series of endless conveyers 3. These conveyers are preferably made in the form of sprocketchains, with wooden blocks fastened thereon to carry the fiber, and are arranged so that the fiber drops from the end of one conveyer upon the next, where'it is carried in the opposite direction and drops upon the end portion of the next conveyer, thus being given several passes in opposite directions within the heated atmosphere. I have shown the conveyers as moving over end pulleys or sprocketwheels 4 and 5, the wheels 4 being driven by intermediate belting or chain connections 6 and a belt or chain 7, extending from one of the shafts to a driving-shaft 8. I have shown the air as forced in by a mechanical blower, (indicated at 9,) the air passing from the blower into the heating-chamber 10, containing suitable radiators or heating pipes or coils. The heated air passes from this heater into one end of the chamber 2 and out at the other end through an outlet 11, which preferably has a baffle 12 extending within the chamber. I have shown the pulp or fiber as being fed from a hopper 13 by an endless conveyer 14, which drops the material between rollers 15 ble connections, as indicated in dotted lines.

The desiccating-chamber may be covered with any suitable non-cond uctor to decrease radiation. From the lowermost belt the fiber drops through a chute 16 into a horizontal trough containing a screw 17, whence it is conveyed, preferably by a suction-pipe, to the mixingmachine. The dry-kiln or heating-chamber is preferably heated to about 190 to 210 Fahrenheit, and the carriers are preferably arranged so that the material is retained in the chamber from twenty to thirty minutes. The desiccated pulp or fiber is then mixed with the other dry ingredients of the plaster, and the mixture is then bagged or put up in suitable packages for shipping.

The advantages of my invention result from the desiccating of the wood fiber or pulp, since thereby the woody particles are brought into ,such condition that the mixture will preserve its normal consistency and condition. The solid and colloid constituents of the juices of the wood are retained, and when the mixture is mixed with water for use-these constituents aid in giving the proper consistency for application to the wall.

scribed as a searing efiect upon the surface of the fiber particles, which looks up and preserves within those particles the albuminous or colloid constituents 01 the vegetable juices until they are liberated by the remoisten ing of the plaster materials preparatory to their application to the Wall.

Many changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the dry-kiln or desiccating apparatus, as well as in the plaster mixture where the fiber is used with plaster, without departing from my invention.

I claim 1. The method of making plaster, consisting in rapidly hot-drying woody fiber to desiccate it and preserve the solid or colloid constituents of its juices and then mixing the desicv cated fiber with dry powdered plaster materials to prevent premature setting of the mixture in bulk; substantially as described.

2. The method of making wood-fiber plaster, which consists in rapidly hot-drying the fiber, while preserving its colloid constituents, and then mixing the desiccated fiber with the other dry, pulverulent, plaster-forming material, whereby the premature setting of the plaster in bulk is obviated; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

MAXIMUS E. LOOSE. Witnesses:

M. S. HUDsoN, T. C. CLEWELL. 

